UPDATE: Proving that Mother Nature loves a good joke, the burning of the snowman has been postponed until Friday because of snow and high winds. No, seriously.
Today is the first day of spring.
Since 1971, Lake Superior State University has marked the first day of spring by setting fire to a paper snowman.
Tom Pink is a spokesman for the university. He expects a couple hundred people will turn out for the midday snowman-burning on the Sault Ste. Marie college campus.
“And this year I anticipate there will be many more, because everyone is sick of winter, even the snowmobilers,” says Pink.
Many Michiganders may be celebrating this first day of spring a little more heartily than in past years, given that this winter was among the state’s coldest and snowiest in history.